1994: Vegetable farmers strike back

Chapter 323 On Yuanmou Vegetables

This shipment of vegetables actually went quite smoothly.

If packaging and preservation are done well, the profit is actually quite good, just as Xue Jun said.

However, packaging, preservation, and other aspects can only rely on the place of shipment for the time being, and changing the local people's mindset is not easy.

At the same time, the risks of road transport must also be considered. If extreme weather or highway robbers are encountered, a whole truckload of vegetables could be destroyed.

Simply put, the risk and return are not proportional.

"Being one step ahead makes you a pioneer, but being two steps ahead might make you a martyr!"

Chen Jiazhi muttered to himself that he felt the conditions for establishing a base in Yunnan would only be ripe after the crackdown on highway robbers had subsided and road transport conditions had improved.

After hearing this, Xue Jun asked, "Shall we go back now?"

"Since we're already here, we might as well take a look."

Chen Jiazhi picked up a magazine from the table, along with a newspaper; these were all newly collected research information and materials.

"Let's go to the market."

They are currently in Yuanmou, Chuxiong, northwest of Kunming. Two days ago, they also went to Midu, Dali, but Midu is located further west and is much farther away, so they have ruled it out.

Yuanmou is more than 200 kilometers away from Kunming. Surrounded by verdant mountains, it forms a basin in the middle and is known as a 'natural greenhouse', possessing excellent natural conditions for the outdoor cultivation of warm-season vegetables in winter.

Thanks to its geographical advantages, Yuanmou now accounts for more than half of Yunnan's vegetable exports.

In 1970, the Chengdu-Kunming Railway, a major transportation artery in Southwest China, opened to traffic. However, there was a shortage of off-season vegetables in Beijing and other areas, so the Beijing Vegetable Company and others approached Yuanmou.

They provided tremendous financial and material support, and a large number of customers came to their door waiting. However, for many years, they couldn't grow vegetables, and the annual output was less than a thousand tons.
It wasn't until a large number of scientific and technological talents, represented by Professor Cai Kehua of Yunnan Agricultural University, intervened that many problems in winter and early spring vegetable production were solved after eight years, enabling off-season vegetable production to embark on the path of industrialization.

It was only in Yuanmou Nengyu Vegetable Wholesale Market, currently the largest vegetable wholesale market in Yunnan, that Chen Jiazhi truly felt the atmosphere of a 'professional' vegetable wholesale market.

The market is bustling with numerous wholesalers and sales teams that connect various provinces and cities.

"Boss, are you shipping from Huacheng?"

"Handsome guy, what kind of vegetables do you want?" The owner, a middle-aged woman, was very enthusiastic. "Cucumbers and tomatoes can be shipped."

Chen Jiazhi smiled and asked, "Are train services easy to contact lately?"

"You haven't booked a carriage yet?" The woman sounded slightly disappointed. "It might be easier to book a carriage these days, but you still need to queue up in advance."

"Oh~"

Chen Jiazhi asked about the prices again, looked at the dishes, and took notes with a pen and notebook in his hand. He looked quite professional, but then said he wanted to take another look before moving on to the next stall.

It's no longer the peak season for winter and early spring vegetables, but with higher summer temperatures, vegetable production is still quite substantial.

Cucumbers and tomatoes are especially plentiful, followed by chili peppers.

However, these vegetables are not lacking in the north during the summer, and shipping them to the south is also limited by transportation, not to mention there is competition.

After traveling for a while, Xue Jun sighed, "Why are there capacity restrictions everywhere!"

Chen Jiazhi was still observing the market when he casually replied, "That's normal. Once there are no transportation restrictions, it might not be so easy to make money growing vegetables."

“That’s what I think too,” Xue Jun said. “After visiting so many places, I’ve figured it out: homegrown vegetables look the best. People here don’t care much about packaging, but they still sell quite well, which is strange.”

Chen Jiazhi said, "What's so strange about that? When supply can't keep up with demand, customers come to the store waiting to buy vegetables, so naturally they don't pay attention to these details. But sooner or later they'll suffer a big loss."

After observing for so many days, Xue Jun, deeply influenced by stall number 63 and Chen Jiazhi, increasingly disliked the rough work style here.

He strongly agreed with the comment, "All the vegetables were in simple bamboo baskets, and the same type of vegetable was not differentiated by size, quality, or ripeness. It felt like the vegetables were exactly the same as when they were picked from the field."

"There are also cases where the same type of vegetable is not differentiated by variety. Compared with Guangdong and Shandong, the quality of vegetables here is indeed inferior. In the next few years, vegetables from Yuanmou may be difficult to sell, or even impossible to sell."

As Chen Jiazhi and Xue Jun walked and talked, their words were full of pessimism about the vegetable industry in Yuanmou.

"I said, comrade~"

Suddenly, a middle-aged man in a striped shirt appeared behind the two. He had a very upright appearance and a serious expression.

"Aren't you afraid of getting beaten up for spouting nonsense here?"

The languages ​​spoken in Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan are basically the same, and I do think I did speak a bit too loudly just now.
"Sorry for the intrusion," Chen Jiazhi said with a sneer, stopping Xue Jun from arguing with him, and then prepared to slip away.

The middle-aged man, however, was unwilling to let him go, and shouted, "Wait, why are you so sure that the vegetables from Yuanmou won't sell?"

"Hey, we were just saying it casually." Chen Jiazhi didn't want to cause any trouble.

The middle-aged man said seriously, "No, you were very certain just now, just like Bao Zheng said to execute someone immediately."

"..." Chen Jiazhi was speechless. He gestured to Xue Jun with his lip, and the latter turned his head to look at the vegetable stall.

The middle-aged man stood upright: "Are you here to buy groceries or stock up on supplies?"

Chen Jiazhi truthfully stated, "We've already visited several counties and cities, including Chenggong, Midu, and Tonghai, to investigate the market here."

"So many places don't have vegetables that meet your standards?"

"Uh..." Chen Jiazhi didn't want to talk about this anymore. "If there's nothing else, we'll be going now."

The middle-aged man shouted again, "Wait, you haven't told me why the vegetables from Yuanmou aren't selling!" His voice was loud and in the local dialect, which immediately attracted the attention of many people in the market.

Chen Jiazhi felt that many eyes were staring at him aggressively.

The middle-aged man realized something was amiss and said, "Do you have time? Let's go to a teahouse for a cup of tea and a chat?"

Chen Jiazhi hesitated for a moment.

The man then explained, "Oh, my name is Ma Ming. I happen to be conducting a survey on this topic and I'm quite interested in what you were just talking about. I'd like to discuss it further."

Chen Jiazhi guessed in his mind that this person might be from some school, and as more and more people gathered around, he agreed.

They soon arrived at the teahouse, and after asking around, Ma Ming served each of them a cup of Pu'er tea.

Then they started talking about vegetables.

After years of development, Yuanmou's winter and early spring vegetables have become a major economic pillar industry with an output value of over 100 million yuan, and Yuanmou Reba has become a veritable "vegetable garden on the banks of the Jinsha River".

“Yuanmou’s annual vegetable production has long exceeded 10 tons. This year, customers from Northeast, North, and Northwest China have come to Yuanmou early to wait for the vegetables to be on the market.”

Unfortunately, due to transportation capacity constraints, Yuanmou can only plan its production based on railway capacity; otherwise, the vegetables would not be able to be transported out and the market would be in ruins.

But with railway capacity gradually being increased and road transport improving, as long as Yuanmou controls the increase in vegetable acreage, there shouldn't be any problem selling their produce, right?

After Ma Ming finished speaking, he picked up his teacup and waited intently for Chen Jiazhi's reply.

Having come this far, Chen Jiazhi could only honestly share his views.

"Actually, I run a vegetable business in Huacheng and also operate my own vegetable market. I can often come into contact with vegetable bases and vendors in Guangdong."

"Guangdong is also a base for transporting vegetables from the south to the north, and is one of Yuanmou's direct competitors. Guangdong can produce all the winter and early-season vegetables that Yuanmou can produce, such as cucumbers, tomatoes, and onions, and the area under cultivation is increasing year by year."

This is just in Guangdong; there are also other regions like Hainan.

Meanwhile, with the implementation of the "vegetable basket project," more and more greenhouses are being built in the north, meaning that vegetables from Yuanmou are not irreplaceable.

Chen Jiazhi tried his best to remain calm and objectively explain things from an outsider's perspective.

Ma Ming frowned. "You mean the winter and early spring vegetable market will quickly become saturated?"

“The market will become saturated,” Chen Jiazhi affirmed first, then added, “but the fundamental reason why Yuanmou vegetables can’t be sold is still the quality.”

Ma Ming didn't quite agree, and Chen Jiazhi suggested that he go out and see more of the world.

"Take winter tomatoes for example. I've talked to many merchants these days. Five or six years ago, the amount of winter tomatoes produced in Yuanmou was enough to meet the demand in Beijing."

But now, as far as I know, they're not selling as well as before, and they're not fetching as much a price. Have you investigated why?

Ma Ming silently took another sip of tea. "But that doesn't mean that Yuanmou's vegetables won't sell. Yuanmou currently only has more than 5 mu of winter and early-season vegetables. The sales volume of winter and early-season vegetables accounts for only 10% of the national 'south-to-north vegetable transport', which is negligible compared to the national demand. It's too early to talk about saturation."

Chen Jiazhi guessed that he was a specialist in this field, able to rattle off various data off the cuff, so he didn't want to have a conflict with him.

However, Ma Ming seemed determined to get to the bottom of things.

"Preparation is the key to success, and lack of preparation leads to failure. Judging solely from the perspective of a vegetable buyer, compared to Guangdong and Shandong, the quality of vegetables in Yuanmou is..."

Chen Jiazhi hesitated for a moment, and seeing that Ma Ming was still relatively calm, he finally said the last two words.

"inferior!"

Ma Ming tensed up instantly, and Xue Jun also became alert. Good grief, you can say whatever you want, why did you have to emphasize it?

Fortunately, Ma Ming quickly regained his composure. "In what ways are they inferior?"

Chen Jiazhi added, "Comparing Yuanmou tomatoes with those from Zhanjiang, Guangdong, there is a significant difference in terms of freshness, color, size, and even flavor."

People in big cities now have more money in their pockets and want to consume high-quality vegetables. They'd rather eat more expensive and less, but they still want to eat well.

What makes high-quality vegetables? They look appealing, taste good, and are of good quality – that's what makes them high-quality vegetables!

Ma Ming then asked, "Is there anything else?"

Chen Jiazhi hesitated again.

Ma Ming laughed and said, "Speak freely, I won't do anything to you, I just want to hear your opinion."

"Actually, this is a business opportunity I discovered, but I didn't originally want to talk about it," Chen Jiazhi said with a shake of his head and a smile.

"I found that the people of Yuanmou are used to waiting for customers to come to them to buy vegetables. This is the case in North China, Northeast China and Northwest China. Then the people of Yuanmou have to adapt to the demand that comes to them."

However, Shandong and Guangdong are now taking the initiative to go out and find markets. The difference between adapting to external market demands and simply waiting for the market to develop is significant.

In addition, the current vegetable quality in Yuanmou is poor and the packaging is inadequate.
North China and Northeast China are close to Shandong. In another two years, merchants from North China and Northeast China may stop coming to our door. Where will Yuanmou vegetables be sold then? So, the market slump is not an exaggeration.

Ma Ming was stunned. He pondered the details and found them to make a lot of sense.

Xue Jun asked, "Then where do these business opportunities come from?"

"The products are bad at the source, but they sell well in other places!" Chen Jiazhi said matter-of-factly.

Xue Jun slapped his thigh in regret, realizing that the price difference had already been realized.
What a great money-making opportunity! Why bring it up?

(End of this chapter)